A day after senior leader of Janata Dal (United) Nitish Kumar and party president Sharad Yadav brushed aside the speculation over the removal of Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi from his post, Mr. Manjhi on Friday asserted he was the Chief Minister for now, but added that he did not know what would happen next.
Emerging from a meeting Mr. Manjhi said, “There is no talk of my replacement as our leaders in Delhi are engaged in the merger plan… it’s a media creation that I’m being replaced.”
Earlier in the day, Mr. Manjhi, addressing a public function at Hajipur, said, “Nitish Kumar is Chanakya of State politics. Unlike me, he doesn’t jump into everything.”
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Meanwhile, the summoning of Minister Shyam Rajak to Delhi to meet Mr. Kumar fuelled fresh speculation. Shyam Rajak was once close to RJD chief Lalu Prasad, but switched loyalty to Mr. Kumar.
“Shyam Rajak being called to Delhi must have some political significance… he too comes from the mahadalit community,” a JD(U) leader told
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Party sources said earlier the name of Assembly Speaker Uday Narayan Chaudhury, a mahadalit leader from Gaya, came up for consideration as a replacement for Mr. Manjhi, but it was shot down by the RJD chief as he did not have a good relationship with him. Mr. Lalu Prasad had dubbed Mr. Chaudhury a “Maoist leader.”
But, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh, a senior JD(U) leader, said any move to replace Mr. Manjhi would be “suicidal” for the party. “I don’t think Nitish Kumar would poison himself to death at this stage of his political life.”
Jansampark yatra
According to top party leaders in Delhi, Mr. Kumar and Mr. Prasad would embark on a Jansampark Yatra across all 243 Assembly constituencies from January 18.